Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Yuzu Honey with Aloe Vera


I must give credit for this refreshing, light yet sharp dessert to the chefs at Sushi Yoshida. I back-engineered this from a dessert I like very much there. I don't have a picture of the finished product, it was slurped up so quickly I didn't get a chance to take a picture but it is definitely a pretty, neat and sophisticated dessert.

Core the yuzu and slice up the skin, peeling back half the pith and fibre that is attached to the skin. Soak these slices of skin in a good quality, clean tasting honey and add the yuzu juice to the mixture. You can also do this with some oranges and for an added sharpness and colour, grapefruit.

Finely dice mint leaves and shiso leaves and mix them into the yuzu and honey for taste and the lovely green bits. You don't want the taste of the leaves to be overpowering, just subtle and refreshing.

Chill the mixture and slice up aloe vera in diced strips. Serve the yuzu and aloe mixture spooned over a scoop of ice cream, or neat on a shiso leaf. Warning, without the smoothness of the ice cream, this can be an tangy, acquired taste, especially for non-fruit or non-Japanese taste audiences.

You could make the dessert really gratifying and de-seed Japanese champagne grapes and soak those in the dessert so that the grapes can just be eaten as a whole turgid but soft explosion of sweet, slightly jellied, clear grape juice. But then, that'd just be spoiling them.

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